When it was time to do laundry I'd take the basket into the laundry room to start the load. The basket would remain in the area for it's return, hours later, with clean clothes. But there was a problem: what to do with the laundry that piled up in the mean time? I could take the basket back into the bedroom, but when the load was done in the dryer, I had a pile of tiny items that didn't transport easily without the basket.
We stop-gaped the situation for a while by putting the temporary dirty laundry on a plastic bag or some other handy thing so the laundry didn't sit on the floor or furniture (remember, it's messy business, that dirty laundry.) Then, one day it hit me. Go and buy a second basket.
This may be obvious to some people, but it wasn't something I'd had a need for in my life as an adult. When it was time for me to do my laundry I took the basket into the laundry room, did the load and brought it back before accumulating much, if any, additional laundry. Any that I did have, I could just place on the floor because it wasn't covered in poo (then) or sand, mud and mulch (now.)
Two baskets. How simple. How obvious a solution. At regular times, there are two baskets stacked one on top of another, with laundry accumulating in the top one. When it's time to do laundry, take the top basket and proceed with the normal laundering process. During that time, additional laundry builds up in the second basket. When the clean laundry is folded and put away, take the now empty basket and put it underneath the basket with the most recently massacred clothes by my children. Problem solved.
That one extra laundry basket has made something that was mildly frustrating to something that works well without us even thinking about it anymore.
Oh, and while I'm at it, I have another thing we do with the laundry basket. I'm all about visual queues and messages that are easy to notice and easy to implement. When we do laundry. the machine is kind enough to play a little tune to let us know the load is complete in the washing machine. Only we're not always waiting around for this little audio message. Sometimes one of starts the load and the other person doesn't know if it's in the "finished washing" or "finished drying" stage. Wouldn't it be nice if there were a little message to let the other person (or your forgetful self) know?
Our laundry room is around the corner too, so even knowing the other person has kicked off a laundry cycle is something we would miss unless we have a queue. So, we use the basket. We take that basket and place it at the bench and pegs area, right outside the laundry room and just inside the garage door to remind us. If the load has been put in the washer, the basket is placed on the short side, standing tall. That's the simple message. If you see a laundry basket standing on it's end and don't hear the machine running, go in and shift the load to the dryer. "Thanks, hon, I appreciate you moving my clothes over earlier." "Sure, any time."
The Big Boy Update: Fortune. My husband has these fortunes on the counter from cookies that hadn't been thrown away for a few days. I asked him about them and he said my son loved to re-read them and even had one memorized. I asked my son today what his fortune said, showing him the piece of paper and he said, "smile, it'll make the world brighter."
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Tough girl. My daughter cries when she's hurt, but she is so good at recovering quickly and moving on. I'm always proud of her and people consistently comment on it that don't know her and see her get hurt and then go right back to playing.
Fitness Update: Trainer today. I think I forgot how to do pull-ups. I lost the muscles. I'm going to have to get back on it.
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